Saturday, January 17, 2009

Warner Bros. and Fox Reach Watchmen Settlement

While a legal dispute between Warner Bros. and Fox threatened the theatrical release of the film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, both studios have agreed to an out-of-court settlement requesting that the case be dismissed, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The agreement is said to entail a cash payment to Fox and awarding the studio a percentage of the film’s box office take.Fox sued Warners in February of last year, claiming copyright infringement based on an earlier agreement the studio had made with producer Larry Gordon. On December 24, Judge Gary Feess ruled that Gordon did not secure rights to the film from Fox before selling it to Warners.

This ruling cast an ominous cloud over the $130 million project, with many fans fearing that the film would not hit theaters on its March 6, 2009 release date or, in a worst-case scenario, may never see the light of day. Thankfully, a joint statement released by both studios confirms that we’ll be watching the Watchmen on time.

"Warner Bros. and Fox, like all Watchmen fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film's March 6 release in theaters,” the statement read.

About the Author

I'm a writer who openly admits that he enjoys the clicking of his own keyboard. On this blog you'll find pseudo-coherent ramblings about comic books, movies, video games, action figures and other frivolous things we all take way too seriously. Also, coffee.